Foreign language program expands

November 4, 2008 • Elise Burri  
Filed under News

Andrew (Yong) Wang hails from beautiful Yangzhou in Jiangsu Province, which sits beside the Grand Canal, four hours east of Shanghai, the hometown of the former Chinese president Jiang Ze-min.

Wang teaches Mandarin Chinese  and Asian culture during the first two blocks each day.

Wang studied at the Tianjin Normal University, majoring in English Education and earned his Bachelor’s degree. He later attended Yangzhou University and obtained a masters degree in curriculum and pedagogy. He has been teaching English for nine years at the Affiliated High School to Yangzhou University.

 

 

The Affiliated High School to Yangzhou University is one of the first provincial key high schools and a four star high school in Jiangsu Province.

Wang, the first teacher to be sent through the teachers’ exchange program between Yanghou and Bend, hopes more teachers will become interested in the program and join. 

An American teacher is stationed in China taking his place.

Wang will stay with us for one full school year, and is living with his Bend host family, the Wolnics.  His wife is a physician and an ultrasonic technician at the local Mothers’ and Children’s Hospital. Wang and his wife were also blessed almost two months ago with the birth of their son.  

“My son and family bring me much happiness,” said Wang.

Since his arrival, he has experienced much satisfaction from our community and school.

“I really enjoy working at Summit and am honored to be on the teaching team,” said Wang.

  He also enjoys our school functions and events, including our recent Homecoming Dance. 

“It is important for schools to make students into ladies and gentlemen. I enjoyed the dance very much, and everyone looked beautiful,” said Wang. 

Wang finds our school beautiful and modern. He extended his gratitude by stating, “Summit is grand and functions well. The students are bright, eager to learn, and very versatile.”

Staff and students have reacted to our foreign friend welcomingly and are excited to learn about Chinese culture.

“Mr. Wang is dedicated and on top of things,” said senior Levin Mattson. “I was surprised how many characters were included in the language. It’s not the easiest language to learn, but he makes it fun.”

“Andrew has been a great addition to our staff. He’s very smart and good-natured and has a keen wit. I think students in his Mandarin classes can attest to this,” said English teacher Doug McDonald.

 “He has proven to be an extremely dedicated teacher who has adapted well to the American society. He, also, teaches us much about the Chinese culture,” said senior Weston Koyama.

Wang described the differences between Summit and schools in China. He explained that instead of four 90-minute blocks in a school day, there are seven to eight 45-minute periods in Chinese schools. 

In China students’ lunch period is two hours long and allows the students to return home and rest before the completion of the day. The Chinese school day ends at 5 p.m. 

Wang’s school population exceeds 2500 or more with a staff of more than 150. 

Wang hopes to gain new teaching experiences and paint an “updated” picture of Chinese society to Americans. He would like to share the culture and language of China and experience American customs. 

“China is now a blooming land full of chances and development. Therefore, I am shouldering the responsibility of presenting live and true pictures to the American kids,” said Wang.

He hopes that after his stay, the Bend LaPine Schools will extend the Mandarin Chinese programs so students can further their language experience and be better prepared for the future. Wang believes Mandarin Chinese is a necessity for the future and will help students go further in international careers. He anticipates there will be higher levels of Chinese study for student available in the near future. 

His future goals include traveling across the United States, with stops in Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon and New York.